Posted on 10/29/2004 2:10:11 AM PDT by ambrose
Kerry Camp Seizes on Probe of Halliburton
Friday October 29, 2004 9:16 AM
AP Photo OHLR108
By CALVIN WOODWARD and TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writers
WASHINGTON (AP) - After days of making hay over lost Iraqi explosives, John Kerry's campaign is seizing on an expanding FBI probe of Halliburton Co. as evidence the administration gives ``special favors'' to special interests. President Bush received affirmation of his wartime leadership in a very public salute from his former war commander.
Fresh off a World Series win with Kerry's hometown Red Sox, Boston pitcher and Bush fan Curt Schilling was stumping for the president Friday in New Hampshire, with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the wings for an appearance with Bush later in Ohio.
But the stars that counted for Bush on Thursday were those earned by a lineup of retired military officers who joined him before a crowd of more than 10,000 in suburban Cleveland. Chief among the brass, retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversaw the combat in the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns, saluted Bush on the stage and said Kerry ``disrespects our troops.''
``God bless you, Tommy,'' Bush said as he took the microphone from him.
Kerry bolted the Midwest for Florida, his campaign sorting through a series of unwelcome developments for the other side.
This late in the game, any miscue is ripe for exploitation, and the Republicans committed a few - in one instance watching former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani explain himself after seeming to blame troops in Iraq for the missing explosives.
Kerry's running mate quickly went on the offensive when word came out that the FBI has begun investigating whether the Pentagon improperly awarded no-bid Iraq reconstruction contracts to Halliburton Co., the Houston-based company formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.
``At every turn for the past four years, George Bush and Dick Cheney gave out special favors and looked out for their special interest friends,'' Sen. John Edwards said.
He told 3,000 people at a Davenport, Iowa, rally, ``You cannot stand with Halliburton, big oil companies and the Saudi royal family and still stand up for the American people.''
The Bush campaign, seeing an unusual opportunity to make gains in exotic Democratic turf, said Thursday that Cheney would go to Hawaii for a rally Sunday night, a striking investment of time and travel for a state Republicans rarely think they can win.
``We are competitive in the state; this is a very close race,'' spokeswoman Anne Womack said, attributing growing GOP support to fears of terrorism in the tourist haven.
Democrats long have accused the Bush administration of showing favoritism to Halliburton, but had trouble making the charges stick after congressional investigators found the company got no-bid contracts in part because no other firms could do the work.
Still, the matter is far from closed. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show FBI agents sought permission this week to interview Bunnatine Greenhouse, the Army Corps of Engineers' chief contracting officer who went public with allegations that her agency unfairly awarded contracts worth billions of dollars to Halliburton subsidiary KBR.
Almost everywhere that counted, polls found the race exceptionally close. Internal campaign polls found it closer still.
New battleground surveys suggested Kerry was leading in Ohio and Michigan, Bush was ahead in Florida and the two were tied in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Oregon. Kerry was sending his daughter Alex to campaign in Hawaii, which Democrat Al Gore won by nearly 20 points in 2000.
Bush told USA Today he hasn't spent any time worrying that the campaign could end with no clear winner, as the 2000 race notoriously did.
``It's important that everybody vote, it's important that the elections be fair, and it's important that the election end on election night,'' he said in an interview published Friday.
Kerry, also speaking with USA Today on Thursday, said he believes the outcome will be known Tuesday night, ``just like I believed the Red Sox would win the World Series.''
Bush launched a stinging character assault on Kerry, telling thousands in Saginaw, Mich., ``a president cannot blow in the wind, a president must make tough decisions and stand by them.''
Bush advisers said their candidate was making gains in internal polls until Kerry's relentless attack on the disappearance of nearly 400 tons of explosives from an Iraqi weapons dump - an occurrence dating from the fall of Baghdad last year that both sides acknowledge is not fully understood.
Franks counterpunched, saying troops have destroyed 240,000 tons of Iraqi munitions, control an additional 162,000 tons and have cleared 10,000 ammunition and weapons sites. He said Kerry has no standing to label Bush as negligent on the missing cache.
``He cannot lead troops to victory in a war when he has made it perfectly clear that he does not support the cause,'' Franks said of Kerry.
The Democrat voted to authorize the president to go to war with Iraq but, through a series of labored explanations, said he did so based on flawed intelligence and Bush's assurances that he would build a true coalition and use his warmaking power as a last resort.
In an interview Thursday with ``NBC Nightly News,'' Kerry said that if he'd been president then, ``we might have gone to war,'' but he would have done so in a way that ensured ``the American people weren't carrying the burden and the entire world understood.''
Of Saddam Hussein's fate, Kerry said: ``It's absolutely impossible and irresponsible to suggest that if I were president, he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone. Because if he hadn't complied (with U.N. demands), we might have had to go to war.''
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In a kerry administration Hussein "MIGHT" have been eliminated. In the Bush administration, Hussein IS gone. As for me and my house, we vote for certainty.
He's an abomination, an embarrassment to be leading a major political party at the Presidential level.
Now that I'm seeing names under consideration for his cabinet... DAMN... why not just ask the entire Democrat Senate to keep him company in the Oval! Kerry, Edwards, Biden, Graham and maybe McCain. This is definitely not the way to run America but fits perfectly with the UN-loving prism Kerry tries to fit everything into just like how he can't see Iraq, he only sees Vietnam no matter the conflict, no matter the facts.
Yes. I have to wonder why he voted against the first
Gulf War. Hussein had actually invaded and occupied
another country and was headed for more if he wasn't
stopped. - There was Kerry's purported "world"
coalition and passed global test.
"Because if he hadn't complied (with U.N. demands), we might have had to go to war."
Uh, to the best of my recollection, they didn't and we did...
What a jackass.
Good gad.
btt
Of Saddam Hussein's fate, Kerry said: ``It's absolutely impossible and irresponsible to suggest that if I were president, he wouldn't necessarily be gone. He might be gone. Because if he hadn't complied (with U.N. demands), we might have had to go to war.''
Rush will be all over this - I hope!
Spineless nitwit.
Thanks Johnny. You've said exactly what President Bush, a real Commander in Chief, did.
Isn't Halliburton the only company that does this sort of work?
There can't be more than two people who believe that Kerry could have persuaded the French and Germans to send troops to Iraq.
It would seem that the Kerry crowd has a great deal of self interest in keeping the Halliburton story going.
(I'm on a friends dial up so searches are difficult....here's some "dot connecting" so far.)
"While she has been critical of Halliburton, liberal columnist Molly Ivins notes that "Democrats are involved in similar dealings." She cites former CIA director John Deutsch, who serves on the board of Schlumberger. <<<<< A French competitor of Halliburton.
She also failed to note that another board member of Schlumberger is Jamie Gorelick, deputy Attorney General under Clinton. She was accused by Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft of erecting the "wall" that kept U.S. intelligence agencies from cooperating to discover and prevent the 9/11 terrorist plot.
Deutsch, who also served under Clinton, could have been prosecuted for mishandling classified information. But Clinton gave him a last minute pardon before he left office.
Jamie Gorelick is a partner at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr
She also serves on several boards, including the Fannie Mae Foundation,<<<<<<<<< the head of Fannie was appt.ed by Clinton and Fannie is under investigation for overstated profits) United Technologies Corporation, Schlumberger,
Limited, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Harvard College Board of Overseers<<<<<<< Harvard is a big contributor to Kerry Camapaign???
From http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/index.asp , http://www.tray.com/fecinfo/ and
http://www.9-11commission.gov/about/bio_gorelick.htm
Gorelick, Jamie S
3/26/2003 $1,000.00
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Fannie Mae/Vice Chair -[Contribution]
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC
Gorelick, Jamie S
5/23/2003 $1,000.00
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Fannie Mae/Vice Chair -[Contribution]
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC
Gorelick, Jamie S Ms.
5/4/2004 $1,000.00
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
United Technologies/Member Board of -[Contribution]
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE <----- competitor???????
Gorelick, Jamie S. Ms.
4/28/2003 $2,000.00
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
United Technologies/Member Board of -[Contribution]
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
Andrew Gould Andrew Gould is chairman and chief executive officer of Schlumberger Limited
Jean-Marc Perraud Jean-Marc Perraud is Executive Vice President and CFO of Schlumberger Limited.
Research help needed for #34!!!!
Ummm, Mr. Kerry? What was that about "It's ok for Red Sox Fans" to not be grounded in reality???? Yeah, you believed, my ass. Liar.
They were the only ones who were able to get to the place they wanted work in the amount of time available.
When I worked at Pratt Whitney we competed with GE and Rolls, but we got no bid contracts because of logistics.
Same thing here. Halliburton was ready and in place.
And contrary to rats claims, Cheney stepped down so there would be no conflict of interest claims by the dems.
Of course, Gorelick's "wall" memo while Assistant Attorney General, contributed to the denial of the search warrant for Zacarwi's (? right name) computer in Minnesota that might have unraveled the 9/11 plot in advance.
In short, Gorelick is just a high-rent version of a welfare cheat, who sees the government as a rigged slot machine that will pay off for her every time she gets to pull the lever.
Did I miss anything?
Congressman Billybob
"'no bid contracts worth millions may have been awarded"
Because there was no one else to bid or capable of doing the work !!!
And in a strange coincidence, they're both on the Democratic ticket.
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